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Naticide, can Parfum (INCI) really be used as a preservative?
In the UK there is a product on the market called Naticide. Apparently, Naticide’s INCI name is Parfum (it does smell a bit like almonds and vanilla), yet it can be used to inhibit microbial growth.
Naticide claims to be all-natural, to contain no allergens, and is designed to be used in products that manufacturers would like to market as “preservative-free”.
In the EU, if a product is a fragrance, it should have an IFRA certificate and an EU Allergen Declaration. Natacide recently has prepared an EU Allergen declaration. I have yet to see an IFRA certificate.
Do any of you chemists have any experience with Naticide?
When I choose a preservative, I like to see scientific evidence that the product actually inhibits the growth of microorganisms. I tried to find something on Pubmed, but could not find anything.
Has anyone seen any literature that demonstrates Naticide decreases gram +/- growth?
I probably would not have given Naticide a second thought, but a client was interested in using Naticide as a preservative. Because there is very limited information, I felt it was too risky and probably would not pass the challenge test. We went with a more established preservative.
Thanks for your help.
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11 Replies
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Sounds dubious to me, Sara, especially if it is an oil. Wouldn’t that be inactive in the aqueous portion of the formula? No chemistry mode of action was given either.
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Naticide is an oil and I cannot comprehend how it can be an efficacious anti-microbial.
With the exception of extremophiles, mini-beasts like to inhabit the aqueous phase. Your olive oil does not grow mould, but make a tasty emulsion with olive oil and water and you have a booming population- not so yummy.
I also take exception to a manufacturer assigning the INCI name Parfum to an ingredient that is clearly intended to be used as a preservative.
This brings me back to the rules and conventions of INCI name assignments. I could not find the convention that describes what molecules can be called Parfum.
A few days ago, I send an email to the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association (CTPA). They very kindly wrote back to me and are looking into the matter and will respond with more information.
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Benzyl alcohol, phenethyl alcohol, phenylpropanol, anisic acid, and levulinic acid can all be labelled as preservative or as perfume and they are all just slightly water soluble but well alcohol and/or oil soluble or even miscible. Many other preservatives (all parabens included) have a logP greater than 1 and they wouldn’t work with a logP below that (they have to penetrate cell walls and membranes)
.For the non-chemists: Simply said, logP represents phase distribution of molecule X if thrown into a 1:1 mixture of water and octanol. If the molecule in question prefers water, logP is negative and if it likes oils, logP is positive. logP 0 would mean that it goes into the two phases at equal amounts because it’s equally well soluble in both solvents, 1 means it likes oils 10 times more than water and 2 means it likes oils a 100 times more.I’m also wondering what the heck is in that Sinerga product!On the other hand, the product Fenicap they sell contains phenylpropanol and is listed as ‘fragrance-free’ and Feniol contains phenethyl alcohol and is listed as ‘for fragrance-free formulations’. Marketing, I hate marketing!BTW Naticide is, according to Sinerga, ‘obtained through a particular and reserved process, according to IFRA recommendations. It does not need the use of co-preservatives. Perfumed note of almond and vanilla.’Almond indicates benzylalcohol and slight vanilla could be vanillyl alcohol, benzoic acid… As a wild guess, it could be purified and maybe hydrolysed balsam of Peru or Tolu balsam. Good antimicrobial activities and approved as fragrance. -
Thank you @Pharma!
Very interesting about the logP. (Apparently Professor P -my husband knew about logP and did not share!) That makes complete sense- I had a bit of a brain freeze.
Almond indicates benzylalcohol and slight vanilla could be vanillyl alcohol, benzoic acid… As a wild guess, it could be purified and maybe hydrolysed balsam of Peru or Tolu balsam. Good antimicrobial activities and approved as fragrance.We finally managed to get an EU allergen declaration and you are correct…
benzyl alcohol!
Just curious, where did you get your pharmacy degree? I studied for one year at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.
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All I can see on that table is traces of allergenic constituents but nothing above 20 ppm (or, in the case of benzyl alcohol less than 184 uM). That’s not even going to preserve pure Naticide itself and, once diluted by a factor of 2, doesn’t have to be labelled separately.I studied and did my PhD at ETH Zurich and a post doc at EPGL in Geneva. Both towns are in Switzerland, the former in the German speaking eastern part, the latter in the French speaking western part. Just in case prejudice or your natural science proficiencies excel your geography and cultural knowledge by far: Switzerland is a little central European landlocked country with direct democracy, big mountains and bigger prices but small everything else. Yes, I live on chocolate and cheese fondue although IMHO France has better dark chocolate and better stinky cheese too though their raclette and fondue suck. And yes, we (hopefully not me but most of the others) aren’t a very warm-hearted nor accommodating people but no, corona lock-down and the 1.5 metre distance didn’t bring us closer together, that’s just an internet meme based on false statistical trends which were caused by elderly people running out of batteries for their hearing aids. 🙂
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The structure of this EU allergen declaration is not at all standard. This information doesn’t provide much insight into how Naticide works.
I have a bit more geographic knowledge than you might imagine. 🌍 We travelled through Zurich on our way to Lake Konstance in Germany.
I am not sure I agree about French chocolate being better than Swiss. Maybe I should do further experiments. 🤔
Because of Covid, we have not left London this year.
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Dr_Sara said:I have a bit more geographic knowledge than you might imagine.Wasn’t meant as an offence . I simply assumed that you’re from the states due to you mentioning studies in Philadelphia. :blush: Swiss MILK chocolate is allegedly the best (can’t comment on that, I don’t appreciate it that much) but dark one ain’t. I was under the impression that it’s no longer a secret that French and Belgian high cocoa chocolate are world-class but now it looks like the NDB (Swiss Secret Service would sound sooo much cooler) is better at its job than I imagined.
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You didn’t cause offense! I figured you thought I was in the US (we Americans are not the best at geography)! 🤭
On the subject of chocolate, I contacted the Belgian company Callebaut about their Ruby Chocolate. 🍫Wouldn’t pink cocoa products be fantastic in cosmetics?
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Dr_Sara said:…🍫Wouldn’t pink cocoa products be fantastic in cosmetics?
To me, this sounds rather scary! LoL! But I can imagine that it’s fairly easy to find customers for something like that.
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In a lip balm with a bit of honey and beeswax- delicious!🐝
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